


we trip on clouds 'cause we get too high

by zarabithia



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Bisexuality, Crack A/U of a Crack A/U, F/F, Transgender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:56:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thea does not respond well to learning her family's secrets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we trip on clouds 'cause we get too high

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VerboseWordsmith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerboseWordsmith/gifts).



> Title taken from [ this song](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bandperry/dontletmebelonely.html).

"Do you ever want to go home?" her son asks, when he is 6.

Thea is older than Ollie was when he disappeared and younger than he was when he returned to them, when Connor asks the question. 

Thea looks down at the sweet, innocent face, and thinks that they need get a lot further away from Starling City than the Hawke family farm. 

~

Ollie has been back from the island for twenty-four months when she finds out that he is The Hood (Ollie's not the one who tells her.) 

Ollie has been back from the the island for twenty-five months when she finds out that Roy has been helping Ollie (Roy's not the one who tells her.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for twenty-six months when she finds out that they only share one parent (Ollie _is_ the one who tells her.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for twenty-six months, two weeks, and three days when Thea leaves Starling City without a look back (Ollie is not the one who tells her good-bye.)

~

Moonday has long since left farm by the time that Thea realizes she needs to leave. 

But that's okay, because Connor and his Grandpa Nathan are loading up the truck. 

It's a weird life that she has now, that a truck is everything that she wants. The radio doesn't even work, and it's never even _heard_ of an mp3 player. 

"It will get you wherever you need to go," Nathan tells her. "I know my daughter's a little headstrong and a nomad at heart, but you and the boy, you write from time to time." 

"I'll write you lots, Grandpa," Connor promises firmly.

Thea doesn't really believe in making promises to family members these days, and Connor's grandfather is as close as she comes to family lately. "I'm not sure where we're headed," she tells him.

Her son looks so much like his grandfather in the face when either of them smile. "Sometimes, my little Queen, we know where we are going before we know how to get there. But in your case, the opposite is often true." 

~

Ollie has been back from the island for twenty-seven months when Thea meets Sandra Moonday Hawke (Both of them are experiencing some quality Ecstasy at the time, but that does not change the fact that Moonday is the most beautiful woman Thea has ever met.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for twenty-eight months when Thea and Moonday have sex for the first time (Mooonday's hair looks as good spread across the pillow as Thea has always thought Laurel's would.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for twenty-nine months when Moonday first tells Thea that she loves her (Moonday is as sincere in this as Sin's friendship had been, and her tongue feels just as good between Thea's legs as Thea has always imagined that Sin's would have.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for thirty-two months when Thea realizes that she and Moonday have not been as careful having sex as they should have been (Moonday could not be more different than Roy in temperament, but she is equally as gentle as Roy had ever been when she is inside of Thea.)

Ollie has been back from the island for thirty-three months when Thea tells Moonday that she is pregnant (Moonday is overjoyed and immediately calls home; Thea writes a text to Laurel that never gets sent.) 

~

The truck takes them to Boston. 

Thea sits in the truck for a long time, with a sleeping six year old next to her. Connor's wearing a t-shirt that is a size too small and three seasons out of date. 

Her mother would be horrified.

Oliver would offer to help. 

Diggle - Diggle who _knew all of Thea's secrets before Thea had_ \- would no doubt offer some wise advice that she should probably take.

Laurel ... Laurel would tell her to do what is best for Connor, and Thea is still trying to figure out what that might be when a _very large_ cat drops on top of her windshield. 

The cat turns out to be a person and the most beautiful woman that Thea has seen since Connor's mother appeared in her life shows up to save Thea and Connor from becoming cat food. 

_Wonderful,_ the press calls her. 

Seems like a pretty apt description to Thea. 

"Apologies," the woman says when the cat lady is taken care of. 

"You always apologize for saving someone's life?" Thea asks, and she tries not to allow her voice to shake. She tries to keep her hands still as they hold Connor close. 

"Only when I end up getting their car destroyed," Wonder Woman answers. "Please don't hesitate to contact the embassy for financial assistance." 

"Well..." Thea looks down at the son clinging to her. "As long as we're talking about financial assistance, I _could_ use a job. Don't suppose the embassy is hiring?" 

As it turns out, they _are_. 

She doesn't expect to get the job _at all_ , because there have to be a million people more qualified to work in an embassy. 

Laurel must give the very _best_ references. 

~

Ollie has been back from the island for thirty-four months when the lease is up on Moonday's apartment (Her father offers to let them move to the family farm, and Thea agrees.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for thirty-five months when she finds out that she is having a boy (She sits on a hay loft with her head on Moonday's lap and a cell phone balanced on her belly.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for thirty-six months when the Justice League of America debuts (Thea watches her brother and _Speedy_ debut alongside Batman and _Robin_ and she's so glad that she didn't send the text that she'd been tempted to, a month before.) 

Ollie has been back from the island for thirty-nine months, two weeks, and four days when Connor is born (Nathan is there, and the ache Thea has for her mother is worse than the ache her son has caused.) 

Time starts being monitored by Connor's birth, instead of Ollie's rebirth.

~

At the embassy, Connor picks up a bow for the first time. Something instinctive inside of her wants to say _no._ But when she thinks of home, she thinks of the archery trophies that had she had won. She thinks of the tournaments that Ollie had never missed, even though he'd been only a spectator. 

She thinks of the first time that she was ever called Speedy, with a bow in her hand and a target at her mercy. Connor looks up at her, with pleading eyes, and Thea relents. 

"You are angry at someone," Diana - because she stops being "Wonder Woman" the minute that Thea is given the position of her personal assistant and is given quarters inside of the embassy - says. "But not someone here?" 

Thea wants to argue with Diana that she's not angry at all. But as Connor takes to Amazon teachings, it becomes harder to do so. Because she watches a calm come over him that he's never possessed before, and what kind of six year old is _angry_?

Hers. That's what kind. 

And, of course, where has he learned it from? 

"You think it makes you a bad mother," Diana says to her while they watch Connor with his arrows. "That your son knows the power of anger." 

"You are some sort of ambassador of peace," Thea says, probably unnecessarily. "Aren't you morally obligated to agree with me?" 

"I am morally obligated to believe that inner peace is preferable to anger," Diana answers. "I am logically obligated to believe that one must know the power of anger before they can know the value of calm. My people value the wrath of Hera as much as we the cherish the wisdom of Athena." 

She offers Thea a bow then, and an encouraging smile. "Come, join us." 

Thea isn't an Amazon, but she'd had archery trophies long before her brother ever got lost on that damn island. So she joins Diana and Connor.

She isn't as speedy as she once was, but her aim has not faltered. 

~

Connor is a year old when Thea receives a weird package with a blue "O" on the front (She hasn't ordered anything; she throws it away.) 

Connor is two years old when Moonday has the urge to move on (not from them, but when Thea and Connor stay behind, that is how it works out.) 

Connor is three years old when he throws his first punch (He has Moonday's heritage and Thea's temper, and Thea takes him out for ice cream.) 

Connor is four years old when Thea receives another package with a blue "O" on the front (She still hasn't ordered anything; she throws it away.) 

~

There are, of course, rumors about Wonder Woman. Growing up on an island full of women, it is inevitable that the press wants to take that to the very queer place.

Thea mostly hasn't had time to care, because she's been raising her son. 

But then she moved to Boston and began actually training with the woman. Suddenly, she finds herself caring very much, particularly when the woman in question is straddling her in a training room.

"All that anger," Diana murmurs with her lips only inches from Thea's. "All we need to do is find the right outlet for it." 

Thea might not really be a Queen at all, but when it comes to making impulsive choices, she can do just as well as anyone with genuine Queen DNA. 

Fortunately, kissing Diana is one of the few impulsive decisions in Thea's life that has turned out well. 

~

Connor is five years old when Thea completes her paralegal training (It is not Laurel who she goes to work for, and Thea ignores how much she would really like it to be.) 

Connor is six years old when they move in with Wonder Woman (He spends his days learning the alphabet and his nights learning how to shoot, punch, and meditate.) 

Connor is seven years old when his mother first accompanies Wonder Woman in battle (The press can't decide on a code name; she is alternately called Artemis, Miss Arrowette, and Red Arrow.) 

~

"Your brother would like the presence of your company for lunch," Diana tells her as the three of them eat breakfast together. 

Diana has her gorgeous black hair tied up in a red scrunchy that probably hasn't been in style since about 1985, but it looks good enough on her that Thea is considerably distracted from her eggs. 

"I'll keep that in mind," Thea promises, and the itch to run is there again.

But her son is happy, and it would hurt Thea more to leave than to stay. It's been a while since she's been able to say that.

She doesn't need to worry. Ollie doesn't show up at the front door of the embassy, nor does she run into him in battle.

~

Connor is eight years old when The Titans make their debut (Roy is awfully close to that Robin kid; there's a heartache waiting to happen.) 

Connor is ten years old when Thea runs into Black Canary and Huntress (No, she doesn't want to join the Birds of Prey, but she does thank Laurel profusely for the job reference.) 

Connor is twelve years old when Wonder Woman and Red Arrow imprison Arthur and Crystal Brown for a drug ring that would have stretched to Gotham had it been allowed to continue (They feel badly about making the Brown daughter an orphan, so Stephanie ends up coming back to the embassy with them.) 

~

"I spoke to your brother again today," Diana tells her, as they watch Connor and Stephanie play with Stephanie's new friend. The kid doesn't like to talk much, but she seems otherwise pretty decent. 

"He would like the joy of my presence?" Thea guesses, dropping a light kiss on Diana's palm. 

"He would," Diana acknowledges. "As would your mother. Are you ready to visit home yet, Thea?" 

It is not all that different than the question that Connor had asked her seven years ago. 

But a lot can - and has - changed in seven years. 

"Yes," Thea says. "I think I am."


End file.
